This research will examine African indigenous churches in their community context, using observational, interview and audiovisual recording techniques. It will examine the influence of the religious factor on the growth of a peri-urban African community. The research will focus on the ritual, social organization and interrelationships of several indigenous churches in the Marrapodi community near Lusaka, Zambia. The following methods will be used: (1) observation of daily activities with in the churches, (2) visual surveys of these activities by still photography and films taken both by the investigator and church members, (3) interview with church members, using written schedules and replay sessions of visual materials, (4) interview with other community members and local government officials. Two months' pilot research in Marrapodi (Summer, 1974) have shown: (1) the importance of independent churches in establishing economic enterprises in Marrapodi and similar compounds, (2) the similarity of these enterprises to self-help programs suggested by administrators and urban planners, (3) the importance of detailed observation of several community groups to document processes of urban change, (4) the innovative contribution of visual research methods, including informant- made films for the study of environmental perception on the part of Marrapodi's inhabitants. The proposed nine months of research will extend the methods initiated in 1974 and provide a follow-up study of community members' adjustments to two anticipated events: the mass emigration of one of the indigenous churches and the continued urban development of the compounds under local government supervision.